Can I Lease A Home Solar System?

The simple answer is yes, leasing a home solar system is finally an option for some homeowners; primarily those living in California and Arizona. The company offering this newly released solar lease product is California based SolarCity. The company was founded in 2006 and has grown into the number one residential solar company in California.

SolarCity, A Premiere Single Source Residential Solar Provider
The company provides a great advantage for its customers over its competitors as they can handle the complete lifecycle of the residential solar system for the homeowner. Without SolarCity’s complete one stop shop solution homeowners are faced with having to find, locate and hire different entities to buy a system from, have it installed, and service it once it is installed. With SolarCity, the homeowner only has to make the initial call to the company. Once the homeowner becomes a customer SolarCity takes it from there. The company has a design team, installers, service technicians and even a financing option all contained under one roof.

Residential Solar System Lease From SolarCity
One innovation that should make all homeowners happy is the residential lease program that SolarCity launched in April 2008. This program is good news as it finally brings the cost of getting a residential solar system in line with the benefits that a homeowner can realize with a set of solar panels on their roof powering the home’s electrical needs. According to Jonathan Bass, the company’s PR Director, “one of the biggest hurdles we will face in growing our product is getting the message across to homeowners that there is another option to buying a solar power system for their home and that option being a SolarCity Lease.”

What Are The Advantages Of A SolarCity Lease?

The SolarCity Lease program offers homeowners several benefits:

Allow a homeowner to switch to clean green energy in the home without the huge initial upfront costs

Allows a homeowner some flexibility in how they handle their lease termination unlike other financing methods which are typically tied to the homeowner’s equity

Lease payments are designed to increase at a rate of 3.9% per year which is below the national average of 5% that utilities typically increase on an annual basis.

Lease payments are based on a 15 year term thus making payments affordable and at or below the homeowner’s current monthly utility bill.

How Does The Lease Payment Save Me Money?
The SolarLease by SolarCity helps a homeowner save money on their monthly utility bill in several ways. Typical home solar systems reduce an average home’s utility bill by about 20-25%. When a solar system is installed on the home, the home uses less power from their local electricity provider which lowers the monthly electricity bill.
The lease payment on a system from SolarCity is set up in such a way that its payment will match or be slightly less than what the home’s utility service charges. With this in mind, and since solar energy is completely renewable and free, as power companies increase their rates, the SolarLease is locked into a calculated increase of 3.9% annually no matter what the increase in the conventional utility bill might be.
For example, if in the future utilities increase their annual bills by 10% the homeowner who has a SolarCity lease will see the portion of their utility bill associated with their utility company go up at the 10% rate, while the bill associated with the lease will increase at only 3.9% annually for the term of the lease. This difference can result in huge savings for the homeowner over time. The message here is the longer a homeowner owns a solar system the better.

Living In California Or In Another State
If you live in California or Arizona and have an interest in making the switch to residential solar power and are interested getting your home evaluated by a SolarCity solar specialist, visit SolarCity.com. If you do not live in California or Arizona and you still want to learn more about solar energy for your home and ways to finance it, please check out: Home Solar Electric Still Expensive – How To Pay For These Systems?